Sending an Email in 1984
Long before broadband internet, IBM PCs running DOS could link with FidoNet for email and shared bulletin board posting. Sending an email in 1984 required one to connect a phone line to a modem.



The modem would then needed to be connected to a computer, and lastly, you’d have to call the computer with an actual rotary phone. Once connected through the Prestel network to Micronet, you had to seek out a specific page for emails (in this example, it’s 7776), to type in your message. Now the biggest issue was getting a IBM’s 1984 Personal Computer AT (AT), as it retailed for a whopping $5,295 ($15,814 in 2024).

No one who wasn’t there can know the excitement of connecting to an email hub and then being able to have a conversation with some unknown person somewhere on the Internet. Pretty much a nightmare today, but back then it just suddenly opened doors to a world of possibilities,” said one commenter.